Sue Thorn has over 35 years’ experience in charity governance and strategy, and in academic journal publishing and events. She has experience with organisations in the UK, throughout Europe and also in the USA. She led the Bioscience Federation’s working group providing input into the reworking of the Charity Commission’s Public Benefit Guidance and has lectured on public benefit compliance. She chaired the Royal Society of Biology’s Membership, Marketing and Communication Committee from 2009-2013 and its Research Dissemination Committee until 2015. She was also Chair of judges for their Science Communication Awards for 2011 and 2012.

Sue is a past Chair of the international Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers. In the early days of open access, she had a key role in liaison between UK publishers and university administrators with regard to the administrative systems needed to process payments from grant funders for open access payments.

Sue was Chief Executive of the UK Society for Endocrinology from 1991-2010. During that time, she developed the Society into a major bioscience learned society and grant provider, well respected in the UK and elsewhere. She led the set-up of an innovative financial forecasting model that enabled the charity to face the 2008 economic downturn with confidence. She also set up its trading subsidiary, Bioscientifica, and developed it into a leading supplier to charities in many parts of the world of strategy, governance, publishing, event management, and secretariat and web services. Through Bioscientifica, Sue was able to assist a number of European and US societies in their development.

Sue has a first class honours BSc and a Master in Business Administration. In 2006 she became a Fellow of the prestigious RSA. She was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology in 2009 and an Honorary Member of the Society for Endocrinology in 2010. She is also a member of the Biochemical Society and was for many years a Fellow of the Institute of Association Management and a Member of the Institute of Directors. In 2013, Sue was made an Honorary Founding Member of the Pituitary Foundation in honour of her work setting up this important patient advocacy group. In 2015 Sue was awarded the Royal Society of Biology's President's Medal for her work with the Society.

In her spare time, Sue breeds and shows dobermanns and is the UK Breed Health Co-ordinator.